forearm pain during curls

[Matthew]

When I do barbell curls, no matter how wide/close my grip is, my forearm hurts as soon as I let go of the bar. It hurts on the anterior side (the same side as your palm), and mostly down the pinky side.

When I curl I curl heavy, maybe 4-6 reps. Through the set there is no pain or discomfort at all, everything feels fine. Then I bend down to put the bar on the ground, and the moment I let go of the bar I get pain all the way down both forearms. It lasts for a good couple seconds, then subsides until I do another set.

This doesn't happen with any other lift. Not rows, not pull ups or chin ups, not benching, not with heavy deadlifting, and not even with dumbbell curls. It only happens with barbell curls.

Does anyone know what this could be?

An imbalance between wrist flexors/extensors maybe?




ps. I googled the word pinky, just to make sure it wasn't actually spelled pinkie, and you know what wikipedia told me? Another name for that finger is the anti-thumb.
I think that's awesome, and wanted to share it with all of you.

[Matthew]

I didn't post this in the injury forum because it's not really an injury, necessarily.

If it needs to be moved, go ahead.

[Alcoholiday]

i'll state the obvious, but...

don't do curls, or anything that hurts.

[karky]

this sounds like something I had. Whenever I put pressure on my forearm (like when doing renegade rows, when I was finished with a set, and got up, the supporting arm would hurt a lot) I found that when I pressed my thumb in between the muscle (flexion muscle) and the bone I would find something that was VERY sore (it was not the same way on my other arm, which didn't hurt at all). All I did was lay off the renegade rows and it got better, whenever I do them, it comes back though.. never really found out what it was.

[Mon]

Can it be a lack of grip strength? That's all I can think of when there is forearm tightness occuring after or during an exercise. Someone asked this type of question before and the responses I have been hearing is grip strength needing to be worked on.

[Frank.S]

reverse grip curls. Lots of big (800+ lbs benchers) attribute getting rid of forearms pain with these.

Also, maybe try the ez curl bar.

[Flashy]

Originally Posted by Matthew

When I do barbell curls, no matter how wide/close my grip is, my forearm hurts as soon as I let go of the bar. It hurts on the anterior side (the same side as your palm), and mostly down the pinky side.

Maybe your pinkies are weak and you need to target those muscles once a week in your workout.


Seriously, another vote for reverse grip. Or how about dumbbell hammer curls?

[Mon]

Are reverse grip curls like "forearm curls" or "wrist curls" or something else?

[Kevin T.]

Reverse grip = overhand grip. Grab the bar with your palms facing away and curl...just not in the squat rack.

[Mon]

Originally Posted by Kevin T.

Reverse grip = overhand grip. Grab the bar with your palms facing away and curl...just not in the squat rack.

Ohh okay. I don't ever have any forearm problems anyway. I was just asking what you meant by reverse curls. Now that I think about it, I feel dumb lol. It's just the reverse of bicep curls. I feel embarassed now.

[Matthew]

Thanks guys.

Alco, avoiding the movement gets rid of the pain, sure. But it doesn't fix whatever's causing the pain, which is what I want to do.

Thanks for the tip on reverse curls Frank/Flashy. I'll start doing them, and see if it helps at all.

Mon, I don't think it's a case of weak grip. I could be wrong, but.. well my grip never seems to be the limiting factor on any of my lifts. It's probably just an imbalance. Which, thinking about it, is a weakness. If you want to be technical about it

[Mon]

Oh okay, the only time my forearms burn is when I do forearm curls or am using a weight too heavy for my grip. It has done it on dumbbell squats quite a few times too and then doesn't get sore anymore. With dumbbells, grip strength is really used.

Have you ever done the farmers walk?